A pair of Amazona vittata. the puertorican amazon calling from a tree near their nest

It has been an unusually rainy 24 of February.  Normally this month is one of the driest ones of the year.  But the arrival of a cold front ushered non stop rain and drizzle that has lasted the whole day.  In some parts of the island the rain has set records that had stood since the 1940's.  It has been a rainy and cloudy afternoon.  Every afternoon, I do a round to check the captive breeding pairs.  I do this every day during the breeding season, at a specific time.  The captive parrots become habituated to my presence and are not alarmed when I go by.   Some wild birds have territories inside the aviary and they also become habituated to my presence.   This pair is perching in a tree near to where their nest is located.  You can hear their calls and also the calls of other parrots who are near.  Their calls serve to mark their territory and to warn other birds away.   There was another pair who had a territory close to that of this pair.  The male of that pair died.  In an unusual turn of events, this pair tolerates the female in their territory rather than chasing her away as they do with other birds.  You can see the widowed female arrive after second 18 of the video.  The male is a captive bird that was released a few years back, you can see the antena of his radio transmitter.  The is lacking a few feathers from the top of his head, probably he lost them in a territorial fight.

Male Puerto Rican parrot displaying to two apparently indifferent females

In the Rio Abajo forest in Arecibo I was able to observe a male Puerto Rican parrot cupping his wings and moving his body from side to side on a bare branch a few feet from two females.  The male is making himself seem larger and he is moving in a way that presumably is particularly sensual and attractive.  The two females were liking the sap that was oozing from the raquis of a banana leaf.  The females had broken the raquis to gain access to the sap.  It seems the dance was a success, eventually the male left and the females followed him.

En el bosque de Rio Abajo, Arecibo, pude observar un macho de cotorra de Puerto Rico abriendo parcialmente sus alas y moviendo su cuerpo de lado a lado en una rama a algunos pies de dos hembras.  El macho esta haciendo su cuerpo mas grande y moviéndose en lo que presumimos que es una forma especialmente sensual y atractiva.  Las dos hembras, se encontraban lamiendo la savia que manaba del raquis de una hoja de guineo que habían partido adrede para tener acceso a la savia.  Al parecer la danza fue exitosa, cuando el macho se fue, las hembras lo siguieron.

Late on a clear afternoon of the dry season, a trio Puerto Rican parrots rest on the vegetation. Rio Abajo State forest.

The largest flock I have seen to date of Puerto Rican parrots (Amazona vittata) in the Rio Abajo forest.

Since the first releases of the Puerto Rican parrot in the Rio Abajo forest, it has become almost commonplace to see, in certain parts of the forest, small flocks foraging or roosting.  These flocks can vary in size, but in my experience, 20 to 30 birds together has been the upper range for these groups.  Sometimes I walk in the forest to enjoy the clear afternoons that follow the thunderstorms of that start after noon and to see if I can catch a glimpse of the wild birds. 

Seeing PR parrots fly over the forest, during these walks, is always an inspiring sight.   Today, as I was walking around the forest just before nightfall I saw a flock sitting on a leafless tree.  The moment I saw the group of birds I was thrilled.  It was clear this was a very large group for the species.   From the photos I took I can count 45 birds on the tree.   I took several photos but since light was falling quickly and the birds kept moving, this one probably has the most birds together.   In my knowledge this is the largest flock ever documented on a photo.

I could not help but recall an article that I read many years ago, in which the authors said “…we personally doubt the current population exceeds 50 individuals and may even be much smaller.  We predict that Puerto Rico is about to lose another of its native birds.”¹  I am happy to say that thank to the work of many, many highly dedicated people, this is one prophecy that didn’t come to pass.   Of course our work is not done yet, but as this photo attest, we are on our way.

Recher Harry F, and  Recher, Judy T.  1996.  A contribution to the knowledge of the avifauna of the Sierra de Luquillo, Puerto Rico.  Caribbean Journal of Science.  Sept-Dec. 1966

Amazona vittata, The Puertorican parrot, roosting behavior in the wild

Branch used by several parrots to roost, note the way the leaves and smaller branches have been stripped away

There are seventeen parrots in this photo, it was taken just after dawn, at the moment the first sun rays were stricking the tops of the trees

A branch used by a single pair, see how they have stripped the branch of leaves for a considerable lenght.  They sleep together at the very tip of the branch.

Part of one of the largest flocks of this species since the 1950's, there are twenty two birds in the photo, the flock was composed of thirty two birds.

The birds continue circling and calling and sometimes fly around almost until it is too dark to see

In this unique photo you can see a pair at night

The birds have excellent hearing, and probably have a small degree of night vision.

The Rio Abajo wild flock spends the day foraging in the forest, usually in small flocks of a few birds, but during the months of July to December in the evening they tend to form a large flock that sleeps in a single roosting area.  This is related to their breeding cycle, during the breeding season, which lasts from January to July in the RA forest, the birds become more aggressive, territorial and less likely to form large groups.  Once the chicks fledge the parents aggression toward other birds lessens to a considerable degree and they become much more social.

The roosting flock assembles in the evening and the way they choose which tree they will roost is very noisy and interesting.  First the birds start arriving at an area where several trees are used to sleep.  As the birds arrive they start calling and interacting with the other birds.  Then they start flying back and forth between the different trees singly and in small groups.

The impression I get is that they are going through a process of ascertaining where is the larger concentration of parrots, sort of a popularity vote between the different roosting spots.    As nightfall starts the groups in flight become bigger and bigger until at times the whole flock is in the air at the same time.  Just as it is getting too dark to see the flock finally settles in a single spot with all, or nearly all the birds in a fairly small part of the tree.

The parrots keep calling and squabbling for some time after it is dark but eventually they fall silent.  The parrots are not passive users of the roosting trees, they modify favorite sleeping branches by removing leaves for at times a considerable length of the branch.  Then they sleep near or at the very tip of the denuded branch.  MY guess is that this is an anti-predator measure but this is just speculation as any place where the parrots spend a considerable amount of time eventually becomes denuded of leaves and quite wretched looking due to their proclivity to chew with their powerful bills anything that is at hand nearby when they are perched in a spot.

The flock wakes up early but generally doesn’t leave their roost until the rays of the sun start striking the top of the tallest trees.  Then they might take flight in a single large and very noisy group that lands again after circling over the roost a few times.  After this the birds start slowly going their own way in small groups away from the roosting area.

If you happen to run into one of these roosting areas during a hike in the forest I would ask that you please don’t disturb the birds.  If the parrots are disturbed they will flee the area and abandon the roosting tree.  In the nineties the whole PR parrot population that used to live around the area of the old aviary high near El Yunque peak relocated to the west part of the forest near el Verde.   The suspicion of the project scientists is that the birds fled the area they formerly used because they were alarmed and disturbed when military exercises were staged on the forest.  I can’t blame them, I would have moved too.

Working on an artificial nest used by a wild pair of Amazona vittata, the Puerto Rican parrot

Ivan Llerandi Roman the leader of the wild release project, note all the equipment hanging from Ivan's utility belt

Gustavo Olivieri

An artificial nest high up in a tree

A wild female turning the eggs, they turn the eggs over every fifteen minutes on average

A baby that has just hatched is gently cupped under the wing by the female, you can see the part of the egg shell under the head of the female.  You can see the head of the newly hatched baby near the center of the photo.

Eddie Velez

The top part of the cage in the photo is about twenty feet all.

One of the more secretive aspects of the parrot project is the work that is done with the wild nests.  The reason for the secrecy is to protect the nests from unwanted human intervention which can, sad to say, include the theft of the nestlings for sale.  Unfortunately even well meaning people can cause a nest to fail if they try to approach it when the parrots are nesting.    Therefore the work of the people that manage the nests in the wild is practically unknown by the general public.  Another problem that affects the recognition of the achievements of the field workers in the area of nest management is that most of this work takes place deep in forested areas where the conditions generally are not conductive for good photography.  As a result this work is rarely documented and even more rarely described on print.  The need for artificial nests in the wild is due to the fact that for centuries and all the way up to the middle of the twenty century the main fuel for the island was wood.  As a result there was severe deforestation on many parts of the island and even on places where the forest now appears in a reasonably good health old trees are few and far between.  Also at the start of the twenty century there was a forestry theory that deemed old, hole ridden, mature trees less desirable than young trees which were still growing vigorously.  As a result in some forest areas old trees were cut down to encourage new growth. 

But in 2009 and 2010 we had the unexpected opportunity to document the work in a nest in a tree inside the aviary.  It has to be noted that the wild release staff pretty unhappy with the location of this nest.  Its location inside the aviary grounds raised all sort of issues about unintended disturbance of the breeders during our daily work at the aviary.  But they had to submit to the will of the parrot pair that signaled they wanted to nest in this particular area, and that was that.  The pair that chose this nest is the one whose male is known by the nickname “Scarface”.   The “Scarface” pair had been haunting the area around the aviary for a couple of years and had rejected or ignored all the nests that were offered in other areas.  For some reason known only to them, the pair decided that they wanted to nest inside the aviary.  Those that are old hands at the PR parrot project know that this is a startling, unheard of situation as wild nests in the east part of the island in the Luquillo mountains are in rugged, hard to get locations, well away from human habitation and the possibility of human disturbance.    But the silver lining in this particular case is that secrecy is not needed as the nest is closely, and jealously,  guarded by the staff.  The way we adapted to the presence of the breeding pair and the tolerance they showed for our rhythm of work helped bring a collective sigh of relief from everybody as from historical reports we know that Puertorican parrots nests have been abandoned over disturbances that other bird species would have ignored.

The tree where the artificial nest is located has to be prepared to receive the nest and fitted with the necessary infrastructure that allows maintenance and checking of the nest.  This particular nest has a close circuit camera that operates in the infrared region of the spectrum, this allows us to check the birds without disturbing their nesting activities.

The photos posted shows work done is 2009 and 2010.  Working with wild nests demands stamina, impressive upper level strength and the ability to work while hanging from ropes in leg and butt numbing positions.  Obviously a lack of fear of height is a must in this kind of work, you will notice that there is a large vanilla orchid on top of the nest, I have never climbed there to check that orchid out.

The nest needs to be fitted with wooden entrances to allow the birds to gnaw on the wood of the entrance, an important part of their nest choosing/preparing procedure.   The nest is also checked periodically during the breeding season to see the condition of the eggs and chicks and to band the chicks.

 To our great happiness the clutch in the nest was incubated flawlessly by the female.  The pair raised two healthy babies than on due time fledged from the nest.  I had the opportunity to observe closely and in unparalleled comfort (in relation to the experience of watching  other nests wild nests both in El Yunque and Rio Abajo) the whole breeding cycle.

I hope these photos give you an idea of the strenuous nature of this little known aspect of our work that is as crucial for the survival of the population at the Rio Abajo forest as the more widely publicized aspects of iur operation.  I would ask of all of you that if you come across a parrot nest in the wild, please do not, under any condition, try to climb the tree or disturb the parrots in any way, this will only make our work much, much harder and may make the parrots abandon the area altogether.   Another reason not to climb up to the nest is the very real possibility of falling from the tree.  Finding someone with its neck broken from a fall who has died sloooowly while being eaten alive by fire ants, centipedes and eyeball and brain gouging beetles would probably leave us inconsolable for about ten seconds after which we would have to make arrangements to drag the body out of the forest, notify the next of kin and present a nomination for a Darwin award on behalf of the dumb-as-a-doorknob deceased.

I want to add that if we notice anyone disturbing the parrots on their nesting areas we will call the local police, notify the federal government, the vigilantes of the DNER and I will personally call their mothers to tell them in no uncertain terms what horribly inconsiderate children they have.   So far we have had absolutely no problems with anyone bothering the parrots or their nests and we hope it stays this way.

Amazona vittata, laparoscopic examination of their internal organs to check their state of health

This is a normal ovary of a mature female, the white irregular patch to the left marks the spot where an egg was released

A healthy testicle

A spent fibrous ovary of an old Amazona ventralis, the owner of this ovary is reproductively senecent

A liver with yellow spots of uncertain etiology 

Lymari (USFWS), Jafet Velez (USFWS), Brian Ramos (DRNA)

Dr. Antonio Rivera the veterinarian that conducted the laparoscopic examinations

A bird ready for the procedure, note the laparoscopic probe  which is the wand like apparatus on the doctor;s hand

The view of the body cavity of the parrot on real time on the computer screen

The first sign that bird is coming out of anesthezia is when they open their eyes, as you can see this bird is not amused

A hispaniolan parrot just removed from the anesthezia apparatus

During the course of the year we test our birds for various diseases, give them physical examinations and do a variety of blood tests on the flock.  Also we evaluate carefully each breeding pair performance during the breeding season.  Usually all these things put together give us a pretty good idea of what to expect from our birds and the state of their health.  But in some cases what exactly is the reason for a bird not breeding is not clear from blood examinations and physical tests.  Then we use a laparoscopic apparatus to see into the bird.

The laparoscopic apparatus is an electronic device that allows us to see inside the bird by using a flexible tube that acts as a camera to capture images of the internal organs.  Since the tube is fairly thin the incision needed is small, more like a hole than a cut.  The flexible tube has fiber optics that bring light inside the animal and allows us to see the internal organs live in a computer screen.  At times we have added a tiny probe that can clip diminutive bits of tissues of interest.  This procedure can be done with very little loss of blood by the animal and after it is finished the birds can get back to their cages and normal routine after a few hours of observation.

The birds are anesthetized using isoflourane.  The flow of the anesthetic is carefully metered to insure that the bird has the proper level of anesthesia.  Unfortunately the level of anesthesia needed to put the birds to sleep is not too far from the level that can kill them.  That means that during the whole operation there is one person paying very close attention to the bird vital signs.  In case a bird stops breathing we have ways to rescue it.  Thankfully, because the staff has a fair amount of experience on treating birds we have never lost one to anesthesia.  We anesthetize the birds because the parrots in our flock object in the strongest terms possible to being handled and will happily put one or a dozen vicious bites in the hand that feeds them.  Our parrots are familiar with medical tests and abhor them wholeheartedly.

Once the bird is safely anesthetized an area on its left side is cleaned and a cut of about one centimeter is made on the skin and muscles.  Through this cut a hole is made into the body cavity and the laparoscopic apparatus is threaded into the body.  Usually the lungs, heart, liver, kidney and gonads are checked for appearance and everything is described, if any abnormality is noted a photo is taken.  Relevant aspects of the bird life history are discussed before each individual laparoscopic examination.   The doctor checks the organs and makes his evaluation and recommendations.  The probe is extracted and the cut sutured.

After the operation the birds are carefully monitored to see that they recuperate successfully from anesthesia.  We all can remember what happened to Michael Jackson because his doctor put him under deep anesthesia and then left him all alone to do some errands.  The birds recuperate fairly quickly from the anesthesia and after they open their eyes and stand on their feet we can confidently say that they won’t unexpectedly croak on us.

I want to thank the USFWS for lending us the laparoscopy machine and for the help of their skilled personnel to give support to Dr, Rivera during the procedure.  I want to thank Jafet Velez (USFWS), Lymari (USFWS), Brian Ramos DRNA) and Dr. Antonio Rivera.

Puerto Rican parrot twilight behavior, sleeping clumped in a bunch.

This is the only photo of this behavior ever taken, you can see a parrot ready to fly away at the bottom

As the leader of the captive propagation program of the Puerto Rican parrot I spend time, probably than anyone on its right mind should, observing parrot behavior. I also read the notes of previous aviculturists about the parrot’s behavior in captivity to look for context for my observations. But there is a gap in the information about this parrot’s behavior, there’s an absolute absence of writings on what the parrots do after dark. In fact most people seem to assume that as soon as night falls the parrots go to sleep and that’s that. To say the truth this inference is largely true, however in the period of twilight before complete darkness the parrots do things that have been missed, as far as I can tell, by other observers.


The reason for missing these behaviors is very simple, after the daily work shift ends the personnel goes to their houses, to do errands, to take a nap, to eat, and hanging around the parrot cages is the last thing in (including me) anyone’s mind. But one day I noted that the period of twilight was marked by an inordinate amount of calls coming from a relatively small area in the cage, the calls denoted intense socialization at a time that I had always assumed the birds were setting down to sleep. This piqued my curiosity and I decided to see what was happening.

What I found is that sometimes, instead of sitting on the many perches on the cage, the parrots will cluster together to sleep in the wire forming a mass that resembles a grape bunch. I have never read this reported, and it doesn’t seem like they sleep in this way in the wild. The birds arrange themselves in a very tight bunch, literally side by side in a degree of intimate contact that I would have thought inconceivable between adult parrots that are not pair bonded. The forming of the bunch is accompanied by much squawking and I suspect this is caused by birds jostling each other for position on the bunch. I have never set out to watch the formation of the bunch since this would probably disrupt its formation but I have on rare occasions witnessed its dissolution. Also most of our flight cages have, by design but this is a matter for another post, odd asymmetrical shapes that limit line-of –sight viewing.  What I found most interesting about this clumping behavior is that the PR parrots, which can be quite picky with who they associate during the day, seem to lose their selectivity as night falls and join together in relative amicability and closeness that they don't show during the day.

I suspect the birds clump as a form of protection from predators. I make this inference because of what happens when the clump is disturbed. When the birds are startled the clump explodes like a grenade with birds flying in all directions. I have just a single photo of this clumping, it was taken when I had to feed the flock very early before dawn because we were doing some special work with the wild birds and I wanted the captive birds to be all fed by first light in the morning. In the photo you can see only part of the clump as a number of the birds had flown away the moment they detected movement near the cage. Nevertheless the photo shows the way the birds arrange themselves on the wire. Previously I always thought that only mated pairs slept this way.

It is unclear what triggers this behavior as some birds are quite content to sleep in perches.  For the moment being this behavior remains a curiosity observed from time to time.

Information about the Puerto Rican Parrot in the Vivaldi (Rio Abajo) aviary

One of the bird of thr Rio Abajo Forest wild flock, raised in captivy.  You can see the antena and the radio transmiter that allow us  to keep track of them

Agency – Department of Natural and Environmental Resources

Bureau of Fish and Wildlife
Division of Wildlife
Endangered Species Section
Project – Program for the propagation in captivity and release into the wild the Puerto Rican parrot
Email address – el.cotorro.electrico@gmail.com, illerandi@drna.gobierno.pr
Project leaders – Ricardo Valentín, Ivan Llerandi
Biologists and Technicians – Brian Ramos, Jong Piel Banch Plaza, Tomás Medina, Eddie Velez, Milagros Cartagena, Gustavo Olivieri, Alberto Alvarez
Location – Rio Abajo State Forest
Jurisdiction – Arecibo, Puerto Rico
Residents – The Vivaldi aviary has 3 permanent residents that assure that there is always someone watching
the aviary and a number of workers that stay overnight when there is the need.

Visits – The Vivaldi aviary is not open to the public
Protected Species – Amazona vittata – the Puerto Rican Parrot

The Aviary also has some pairs of the Hispaniolan Parrot (Amazona ventralis). These pairs are used as foster parents for Puerto Rican parrot chicks when necessary.


Wild Population Estimate – From 30 to 40 individuals in the Rio Abajo Forest, 20-30 in the Caribbean National Forest.

Location of Wild Population – Restricted to the Caribbean National Forest, El Yunque and to the Rio Abajo forest.
Total Population, including parrots in captivity – A total of 269 in captivity, 60 to 70 in the wild.

Captive Groups of the Puerto Rican Parrot

Iguaca Aviary – 133
Agency – U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Rio Abajo Aviary – 136 birds
Agency - Department of Natural and Enviromental Resources of Puerto Rico

Wild populations of the Puerto Rican parrot

El Yunque, Caribbean National Forest – 20 – 30
This is the original population that survived the near extinction event

Rio Abajo Forest population 30-40
This is a new population which was started with birds released from captivity. Rio Abajo used to be a stronghold of the PR.

A Short History of the Vivaldi (Rio Abajo) Aviary

Starting date – In 1989 30 Hispaniolan parrots were transferred from the Luquillo aviary to the Rio Abajo aviary to serve as sentinels to detect the presence of infections diseases, to put operational logistics to test, and to evaluate the capacity of the technical staff.

Chronology of Important Events for the Vivaldi Aviary at Rio Abajo Forest

1993 – first group of Puerto Rican parrots transferred from the Luquillo aviary
1994 – first breeding season in Rio Abajo; 2 Puerto Rican (PR) parrot fledglings produced
1995 – second group of 13 Puerto Rican parrots transferred from the Luquillo aviary, 10 PR fledglings produced
1996 – third season; 10 PR fledglings produced
1997 – fourth season; 5 PR fledglings produced
1998 – fifth season; 10 PR fledglings produced
1999 – sixth season; 13 PR fledglings produced
2000 – seventh season; 16 PR fledglings produced; 1 chick received from Luquillo, 9 parrots sent to Luquillo for the release project in El Yunque
2001 – eighth season; 17 PR fledglings produced (3 died after fledging); 3 chicks received from Luquillo; 10
parrots sent to Luquillo for release.
2002 – ninth season; 16 PR fledglings produced
2003 – tenth season; 11 PR fledglings produced
2004 – 11 PR fledglings produced
2005 – 12 chicks
2006 – The best year ever in the Vivaldi aviary until that date, a staggering 29 fledglings are produced in a single season.
2007 - 31 fledglings produced at the aviary
2008 – 30 fledgelings
2009 - 30 fledglings
2010 - 33 fledglings

Total production so far – 271 Puerto Rican fledglings

Captive management Philosophy:


The Rio Abajo aviary is a captive breeding facility that is not open to the public. The principal purpose of the aviary is to be a bank of genetic material representative of the species to provide parrots for future reintroductions into the wild. The facility is equipped with everything necessary to perform many procedures without having to remove the birds from the property. We use a management method that is minimally invasive to the birds’ territories, which are composed of different areas of breeding cages. We use large sized flight cages, of 60 feet in length and 14 feet in height, to socialize the young parrots and so that they can form pairs in a free and natural manner so as to produce pairs of the best quality. We try to maintain an environment that is positively stimulating to the majority of the reproductive pairs and results in less stress.

In the Rio Abajo aviary we have a deep respect for the Puerto Rican parrot as an animal with a large cognitive capacity that needs to be provided not just with the basic necessities of food and water, but also of an environment adequate for exercising the full realm of behavior that they possess. To be able to fill their mental needs we provide spacious cages, fruit, branches, leaves, and toys made of wood, coconut, and rope.  The adult breeding cages are separated from one another by barriers of vegetation and dark screen. We severely limit the access of humans in the areas of breeding cages. We try to reduce to as little as possible the amount of contact the parrots have with humans to avoid the parrots’ becoming accustomed to human contact.  We carefully study the behavior of the young adults and reproductive pairs to look for what might help us to stimulate reproduction in captivity.  We maintain a complete database of our activities with the parrots to be able to evaluate the results of our actions.  We use the Hispaniolan parrot, Amazona ventralis, as foster parents to incubate eggs and raise PR parrot chicks. The eggs and chicks of the Hispaniolan parrots are used to provide practical experience to PR parrot pairs that are new and inexperienced in incubating eggs and rearing chicks

A male in the wild

Puerto Rican parrot, Amazona vittata, a smile of hope

One of the ten most endangered species of parrot in the world, the PR parrot is the focus of an intense effort to restore its populations. A formerly extremely abundant bird whose population was counted in the hundred of thousands if not in millions, it s wild population suffered a catastrophic decline and dwindled to 13 in the 1970's due to habitat loss and other causes. Now there are about 280 individuals and two wild populations, including a new one in the Karst region of Puerto Rico that has about twenty birds. I post this photo to invite you to think of all the species that are in jeopardy due to habitat destruction and unwise resource exploitation. Some of endangered species are superbly adapted to their enviroment but have great trouble dealing with highly unnatural pressures such as being captured for the pet market (one of the reasons for the decline of the PR parrot). I have dedicated my life to save these extraordinary creatures which are profoundly emotive, very independent and a true nightmare to breed in captivity.

There are various posts in this blog about dufferent aspects of the life and biology of Amazona vittata both in captivity and in the wild.

Para informacion en Espanol con respecto a la reproduccion en cautiverio de esta cotorra en el Aviario de Rio Abajo, puede buscar en:bc.inter.edu/focus/a4_n2/valentin_delarosa.pdf